Global Growth: Sputter, Stutter, Mutter

The economic expectations bar is low thanks to repeated downgrades, but the surprise index is falling even faster as noted by the Financial Times.

“Last year it became apparent that global growth was accelerating, but there are now reasons to believe that the acceleration phase is over,” said Larry Hatheway, chief economist at Gam, an asset manager. “It might not be decelerating yet, but markets trade on inflection points.”

Growth Gages Dip

It’s a bit peculiar to put SKF, a Swedish maker of ball-bearings on a chart with copper and the Dow Jones transportation index, but “Dr. Copper” and the Dow have a different message.